The present invention relates generally to an automatic ice maker used in the freezer compartment of a refrigerator, and more particularly to a subassembly of such an ice maker which contains the water during formation of the ice cubes and from which the formed ice cubes are later released.
Conventional refrigerator ice makers form ice cubes in the freezer compartment and release the formed ice cubes through a dispenser located in the freezer compartment door. A known refrigerator ice maker fills a metallic (aluminum) ice cube tray with household tap water, allows the water to freeze into crescent-shaped ice cubes, electrically heats a "U"-shaped metallic rod heater located on the bottom of the metallic tray to loosen the individual ice cubes from the tray, uses an electric motor to rotate plastic fingers on a shaft one revolution to sweep the crescent-shaped ice cubes out of the tray into a storage bin, and uses a motor-powered auger in the storage bin to move the ice cubes forward into the dispenser.
Such known refrigerator ice maker has its "U"-shaped metallic rod heater release at least 200 Watts of power during a typical three minute heating cycle, and the refrigerator freezer must use extra energy to remove such heat generated by the rod heater. Since a portion of each ice cube may still be attached to the tray after the three minutes, the electric motor is designed to rotate the plastic fingers with sufficient torque to help dislodge any stuck ice cubes from the tray. What is needed is an ice maker with improved ice cube release.